Page 888…

Whew! I’m so glad. You spend so much time (and money) doing something like this…and so many months planning and building. Thank you.

And for those that were asking…NO this is NOT a permanent costume change.

Just for a bit. So she can get her clothes cleaned and let her hair down a bit.

I had a question for you all…

If I were to offer “incentives” for either votes for Topwebcomics…or Twitter followers.

What would you like to see?

I was thinking about “for every week we’re in the top 10 of Topwebcomics” or “for every week we’re in the top spot of Topwebcomics” or even “for every 100 new Twitter followers” I would do something special.

If I did…and with about 20,000 readers a day…we shouldn’t have a problem with any of these things…

…what would you want it to be?

1) A saturday page?

2) New desktops?

3) More “making ofs”?

4) A free Giveaway? Toys, books, etc.

5) Original art for sale cheap?

6) Original page art?

Just throwing some ideas around.

As a webcomic creator…I have to constantly keep track of our hits, our fanbase, etc.

So I need to know what YOU…the readers…would like in return for a little extra help in us getting the word out about Dreamland.

You know I don’t like to ask for too much. So I want it to be fair. What can I give you all in exchange for extra Twitter followers or Topwebcomics votes?

Let me know.

And thank you for reading each day. I hope you enjoy today’s page.

I had fun with this and yesterday’s page. Though honestly…I love this whole chapter.

Discussion (157) ¬

Gee, whatever happened to the fabled call every reader with your excessive cell phone minutes that need to be used up. 😛

I’m already following you on twitter, so I vote for keeping you in the top 10 with votes. And as for incentives would love some aside stories. Like other adventures when they were kids, side character development you can’t squeeze into the main storyline, but would be fun to share. And also more showcasing of costume changes. 😀

I think Saturday updates, while nice, wouldn’t be a good incentive to use, since you already update 5 days a week. You would have to make some kind of announcement when a Saturday update was forthcoming, or when it passed, and a lot of people don’t read the blog posts beneath the comics. Besides, A Saturday comic would just be one less you had in your buffer.

I’d to suggest reader contributions with Vote incentives along the line of “what might happen if…”
…alex meets the smurfs!
throw it open to readers to put some of their own ideas in as vote incentives as well.

Or, The Saturday page, show us some “bloopers” from the cast. Or bloopers of your own, things that didn’t work or when wrong, but were interesting.
Maybe meeting other characters from other parts of your “studio lot”. “Everyone get into character, Alex is coming!”

I’m technotreegrass on Twitter, but I’d LOVE Saturday pages or the giveaways since I’m jobless. I’d LOVE the “The Greatest Motion Picture You’ve Ever Read” poster for my wall, or a nice large poster of the six-panel two page spread of the gang and Nick at the very end of Book 2. Why repaint when I can cover the imperfections in posters?

I would love to see more updates or content for the site. Things like desktops, “making of” pages, gag/side-story strips, even things like character profiles with “art” renderings and such would all be neat additions.

Also, totally unrelated minor note: friendly nudge to update your jukebox again when you get the chance – it’s been static for a while, and I always seem to find a good song or two I haven’t heard before (or haven’t heard in a while) whenever you update it 🙂

I know this is one day late, but Nastajia is lovely. I really like her new look as well. Especially the hair. And with her half-smile, she looks much friendlier and much less aloof. I like that about her too.
Hmm… about the topwebcomics vote incentive (I don’t do Twitter unfortunately) – personally I feel that a bit of all of them would be interesting. Except for the Saturday page – I don’t know how you would do a page on Saturday if only a part of your fans would read it (e.g. those who follow you on Twitter, or those who vote). Other than that, I think variety is the key to keep people interested.

Oh, and I wonder when the story will get back to Felicity. After all, she still seems to be mortally wounded.

I agree with LazerWolf that Saturday updates aren’t necessary. 5 updates a week is already really great, and you should keep some of the weekend for yourself and your family. I must say that I always enjoyed the sections of “making ofs” and free giveaways are always great. Just keep going like you are, it’s great as it is as of now.
And the costume change /be it temporary or not!) is amazingly done, nice to see her a little less “formal” than she looks with all her armor.

I think we may have a failure to communicate, here.
I believe Scott is hinting that he would like to get to the top of the Topwebcomics chart, and is willing to put out a little something extra if we’ll just sit on our lazy asses and vote! He just wants a clue which little something would give us most incentive to do that voting thing.
Now, I already vote daily, and I’m sure everyone who comments here does as well (You do, don’t you?), so nothing he can do will get more votes from me.
That said, I wouldn’t mind some nice saturday updates once we get TDC into the top ten. Giveaways are nice but hard to arrange equitably, it seems to me; however, everyone can enjoy a nice wallpaper, or blooper page, or pin-up…

P.S. Jones111, you can find a couple little vote buttons right next to the author blog box up there. They are pretty teeny, though. Scott, you probably ought to consider getting bigger ones (or even custom-drawing some vote button art).

Saturday updates would be great, but it needn’t be from your buffer. If you used maybe a different, less time and money consuming art style you could illustrate some other stories unrelated to the main storyline.

You’ve got a hell of a universe going here and a hefty number of people invested in it, why not show us some of the other sights dreamland has to offer 🙂

i agree with others that the saturday page will take away from your buffer (so it’s bad) even if we would love it and besides, i don’t believe this will really make the non-voters start voting. i vote every day anyway, so my two cents here is worth less. but i’ve said before, more than once, and it is still a problem as far as this goes, your twc button is hidden. look how barb at xyliatales or sarah at phoenix req feature the twc button. prominent, so you can’t miss it, not hidden like in a where’s waldo, so you have to go searching for it. i would enlarge it and put it ABOVE the ‘tag page’ thing or as part of the top nav, as barb did.

people will vote more when you have good vote incentives too. you already have all you need, if you’re willing to dole out desktops. the mini-felicity/nicole image you gave out as a vote incentive is STILL my desktop, though i follow dozens of webcomics and they have desktops too (this one is unreal – are there others that you publicly released or only this one?). sure, i’d also love original art, but let’s be realistic about what could be done on a longer term basis. if you release new images, from the webcomic, in higher res format for desktops like that one, which we can only access through twc, people will vote who never voted before. and then they’ll vote another day at work or at home to get the desktop there as well.
there’s something about the higher res larger image of your art that shows the details – seriously, the desktop gave me a better understanding of how amazing your art is. and made me think that it could easily become an animated motion picture.

I really liked the idea of the asides that kronostar mentioned – various extras you couldn’t fit in from different periods of time – and would love to see that happen if possible. I have to agree with michelle4jerusalem, though, that the additional time investment would be taxing.

Saturday updates – the most prevalent option I see mentioned – would bring 52 additional pages a year, provided we kept TDC in the top whatever number of votes on whichever service. That’d be cool, but it would be that much more demanding on Scott and his family. High resolution pics – maybe a poll thread with 10-20 options from which you select the top 5 and do renders from those – would be a much more reasonable option. I know I’m restating what M4J said, but I happen to agree with the point.

That doesn’t preclude mixing it up with a variety of incentives – I certainly wouldn’t complain about the occasional saturday update with little sidestories about the people of Dreamland… or the dark motivations of the leaders of the Nightmare realm. *grin*

Seriously, though… thank you, Scott, for being as invested as you are in your work. I’m not sure it’s reasonable to expect you to spend even more time than you do. I think we’ll all accept whatever you feel is the most reasonable option.

On your mark ready set lets go
Dance floor pro I know you know
I go psycho when my new joint hit
Just cant sit
Gotta get jiggy wit it
Ooh thats it
Now honey honey come ride
Dkny all up in my eye
You gotta prada bag with alotta stuff in it
Give it to your friend lets spin
Everybody lookin at me
Glancin the kid
Wishin they was dancin a jig
Here with this handsome kid

I love the new Nastajia look, it’s nice to see that she can change it up every now and then. But in the third panel on today’s page I think the green bead on her outfit was misplaced. It moves from being attached to the top of her garment into her armpit.

I think that while you want to give to us, the incentive should give back to you as well. How about a sale on your store items? Maybe a BOGO, or 25% everything for the first weekend of each month when you were in TOP WEB’s top 10 the previous month?
I agree with the previous comments that a Saturday page would be nice, but would eat up the buffer which we’ve learned is very important. What happens if your back goes out again?
I love this webcomic (though it is so much more than your typical webcomic) and look forward to the day it becomes a movie or regular series. I want to see Paddington dance!!

Yeah, I noticed the green dot, too. It’s part of the dress, but it’s on the wrong part of her sleeve. It should be at the top of the sleeve in panel 3, not the bottom.

As for incentives… Gather ideas and put them to a vote. Or do everything. There are a lot of things I like, so I really don’t have much of a preference right now for a good reward. Anything would make me happy.

Forgot to mention… If Nastajia needs to wash her hair, she would have kept it up. And back. Everything pulled away from her face (including the bangs in front, if possible). Most likely. But I guess they took her ponytail holders away.

Whoa, lots o’ comments! That’s awesome. Giveaways would be fun, but hard to do fairly. A Saturday page is a good idea as long as it doesn’t take away from your buffer, and I love the idea of wallpapers/ downloads.
And Natasha looks so sweet! Alex can take his foot out of his mouth now. lol!

Also.. being a lady.. I’d like to know.. HOW DOES THAT SHIRT STAY ON??? It’s so loose and flow-y in the arms, but appears to be painted on to her chest…Is that it? Is it just one of those air-brush shirts with some fabric accents? *jealous*

Poor Alexander. I am surprised that he managed the “What?” I wouldn’t have expected him to be able to speak for another day or so at best.

And does Nastajia expect us to believe she is one of those naive (that’s Evian spelled backwards for you water snobs) women who, as the song goes, “doesn’t understand what the fuss is all about?” Right! Did she honestly believe that Alexander would be immune to her beauty? Right! Is my jealousy monster out of control? Yep, sorry to all. (grrrrrr)

Would the Saturday pages be something noncanon or outside the story, like the occasional “Gene Catlow” Saturday pages? If it’s just more of the weekday material, I vote against that. It would just mean completing the story more quickly.

I like todays comic a lot better than yesterday. Staj seems much more natural in the close ups than on the full body ones. As you already know, we’ve never seen hands or feet/legs of Staj, so it takes some getting used to, having those in their natural form. So far I can only say I like what I see, but have to agree, it could use a little tweaking here and there.

It most certainly is a great way to change the pace of the comic from an action chapter to a more peaceful character building environment. The transition worked nicely and prepares us (audience), for the things to come.

As for any incetives to vote – I don’t need any, I come here, I follow your wonderful work, and I vote as often as I remember or notice the voting button. I’ve already got what I need in return, a place to let my imagination fly and escape the reality of the everyday monkey business.

I haven’t commented before, even though I’ve been following Dreamland since its first chapter… but seeing Nastajia like that… wow! I can fully understand why Alex would be speechless. I would be, too. lol That’s one sexy princess.

I really love this comic. I am new to this set. I really loved it I actually wanted to see what this was all about so I started from the beginning and its great. Saturday strip would be awesome. Keep up the amzing work.

i really enjoy her new look! but i agree with another comment already made re: how they look a little too plastic-like. The shine ontheir hair i think is what sets it off, unless they both need to wash their hair :D. Other than that, i love this comic and the changes 😀 Beautiful characters and designs, the environments are great and the story is charming.

RDS, I thought from her use of past tense that her hair is already washed, and that’s why it’s down. (Possibly also darker due to being wet? But that could just be because it’s nighttime.)

Yes, Saturday strips would be awesome — but again, that’s not going to encourage people to click through to TWC except indirectly, and people might miss it. Or people could easily start taking a Saturday strip for granted. I think as incentives go, it’s better to have something special to link to. If it’s for hitting a goal of X twitter followers, publish a link through Twitter to some bonus art… etc…

I was originally going to say a Saturday page but kronostar had a great idea with side stories! I am a big fan of side stories. I realize that may not realistically feasible, but if it is, that would be the absolute best!!

Voting Dreamland Chronicles into the top ten? That’s . . . Genius!! And by the way EXCELLENT voting incentive today, that’s my new desktop, fer shure! Not that I didn’t like fishguy every day, but still, he was getting old.

And todays strip, I don’t think Alex could look any more ga ga without actually having the old “tongue hangs out three feet” visual gag happening. Great job. And lest I forget the reflexion, that’s cool, I enlarged it and the detail of Nas and the tent she’s standing in front of? Sweet!

Saturday page would rule – as long as you feel you’re up for the extra workload, Scott. Don’t want you getting too worn out, after all! 🙂

***

Have to say, I’m loving the current part of the story with the centaurs. I think Alex just got distracted again, but who can blame him? I think if I ever dreamed a Nastajia I’d never want to wake up! 😀

I think you use the original characters but have them do random things every Sunday, like throw your characters in different genres, i would love to see them all in space or working in an office, lol, would be hilarious!

I would like to see 3D modeling tutorials. Or maybe some models from the designers that they wont mind tossing up for free, I don’t mean anything as detailed as in this comic. But you know small freebe tidbits like a simple landscape or a small object model like a cart or a simple building. Or just tutorials would be swell. Theres lots in 3dsmax I know how to do but there are still others I don’t, like with Rigging! I can’t rig anything I’ve made for the life of me. Or how to better UV map! I also suck at that and always get areas that are stretched or over lapped.

You da man, Scott! Whatever you decide is fine with me. Alex looks to be brain-dead, staring into the endless cosmos. Great expressions, even Nastajias eyes in panel 3. She’s definately out of her element, fer sure.

There is what I would like you to do, and then there is what would work. Like most fans (though I am new) I would love to see a Saterday strip, it won’t help, but it would make me happy. However if you wan’t more readers and to get the word out more effectively I would go with marketing the characters. You really can’t market the story but your female lead could be portrayed as hot. Not sexual, just hot/a beauty. Some posters of her looking very nice would probably circulate well. You put the website and your logo on the posters and it draws curious eyes. You could do the same with all of your characters. Even mock inspirational posters. A few solid images, some attractive lines or strong lines taken from the story and you might end up seeing a lot of these wall papers circulating as people share them online. The more sharing the more curiousity and the more views. Not all the views will stick, but some are bound to like what they see and come back for more. That would be my thoughts on the matter.

Sorry to pause and then continue, but I forgot to voice some of that. Men like heroes and beautiful women, you have both. Show your lead in his cool armor, or the dragon baring down on freinds. It is an old hand, but it works. When you see something cool you talk about it, when you see someone cool, you talk about them. If you had more… posters, backrounds… that kind of thing, which showcased how intriguing Dreamworld Chronicles was at its peek, I do believe you would draw a larger audience from people wanting to know more about these characters. You might try posting some of the work on some free artsites as well. Something like art Deviant might get some more eyes to look in this direction. In closing, I appologize for being wordy. Its a condition, it is called being me.

If there was some way to enter an IP in a raffle or something, it would be perfect. Say a signed copy of one of the books for the winning IP – thus encouraging you to vote every day to increase your odds of winning.

I guess I would go with BTS, concept, etc art. Things you make anyway so as not to cut into what little off time you get, but still interesting. Except for Kiwi, every time I see concept art of her, it makes me cry because the other Kiwis… Kiwae? Kiwii? Whatever were such better designs.

You know what I’d like to see? Cameos from other comics. I know that it might be a bit hard to make all those new characters and designs and all that, but it’d be cool to have them in at least once in a while.

yippee yie yay!!! *wolf whistles* XD srry.. had to do it…. but here’s me sugestions… desktops… a free statue or something. something that you would feel comfy with giving away for nothing! 😀 hmm… don’t do saturday’s. we get along fine with five days, we don’t need to be pampered that much… XD but yeah, anything but an extra page a week. BUT GOOD JOB ON THE TEMPORARY CHANGE OF CLOTHING!!! *lightbulb lights up* oh… omg!!! :O HOW BOUT MAKING A STATUE OUT OF THAT? that way its more lasting than a few pages? and please… don’t let this comment be unread!! XDXDXD

MORE STORY!!!! Oh, such a wonderful thing! So, don’t go changing your methods just to pimp your comic, it’s going along just fine. Albeit, I do not think that Nastajia is very happy with her get up. Nothing a bit of soap and water can’t fix, tho’. And, I’ll be sure and vote fer yer graphic when the time and thought coincide…like in the next couple of minutes.

BTW, I’d look serious at the house of yer cousin, but I’m looking at work on t’other side of the state.

SIDE STORIES ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!Don’t work yourself too hard by doing a Saturday page. But yeah, I love side stories because you get to see into each characters personality a bit more, plus you can make them meet other characters from other webcomics.

I was so bummed today! I forgot it was Saturday, so when I got up this morning for work, I jumped on here right away to see the new page, when there wasn’t a new one, I just assumed I beat you to the page… Then I come back around 3 o’clock and as soon as I entered the web address, I remembered– “crud, it’s Saturday.”

Huh. I had always imagined that Alex would see her with her hair down in a formal ball at her castle, maybe at the end of their adventures. Now I get to see his slack-jawed expression years earlier! Now let’s see if he has the guts to say what he’s feeling.

Oh btw, Scott, do you use your Facebook as a medium to stay in touch with fans too, or is that only for friends/family?

I noticed the link to your Facebook up here on the site, but only 500 fans would be… unbelievable? So I’m guessing it’s the latter.
If it doesn’t exist yet, it might be a good idea to create a fanpage on Facebook.

And as a final shout out, I’m really digging the songs on your jukebox. Especially Ball of Confusion and Rubberband Man. Luv ’em!

All’n y’all, give over! Give Scott his weekly repose! There’s more story to come, and good things come to those who wait, so wait for it, I tell ya. Liable to be most priceless on Monday, with all weekend to stew on it.

just because i wouldn’t want someone asking of my weekends, maybe just more “making of” type postings, and of course free giveaways are nice. also, thanks for explaining a lot on the process of making the comic. it makes it a lot more intriguing to read when there’s a feel for the creator. i guess knowing how much you put into the story makes reading it even better.

I haven’t read all the comments here, so I don’t know if anyone has mentioned this idea yet. It seems a bit obvious to me, but maybe a wallpaper with the new Nastajia on it would be a good vote incentive.

I think Nastajia’s Native outfit and hair is way better than her regular outfit and hair. Alexander appears to agree with me.

I’ve been following this comic for months! That’s a feat. I have a deep appreciation for the artwork used to create the webcomic. That’s the main thing that keeps me coming back even if some of the pages don’t have a lot going on in them. This is beyond a webcomic. It really is an art! I’ve voted for ya 😉 I follow four other webcomics and I’ve voted for you!

Just an idea, what about a guest week. A week of OT comics done by guest artists? Yates from EarthSong Saga might be good. I love the story line of Dreamland, but I love looking at guest strips. It’s fun to see what other minds envision. Maybe get the Foglios from Girl Genius? Just an idea 😉

Did you notice that the bead on her dress has wandered over to her armpit in panel 3? <_< Don’t get me wrong.. I love your comic I’m just trying to help you out before you publish. I know Maya does weird things like that to me if I mess up a rig 😛

I just voted for my third time. Gorram , had I known sooner about the voting, I might’ve checked back. But, to be quite honest, I was just as happy to find 10 new pages waiting when I did find time to visit.

Just thought I’d point out that the little jewel on Nastajia’s shirt stays put when she lifts her arm instead of rising with the sleeve portion. Don’t know if anyone else noticed it, but figured I’d say something just in case. 🙂